Follow That Horse | Son's story might never match mom's

Magna Fortuna, with doting mother Silver Option in photos above, and nearly all grown up at Hawthorne Race Course, below.

Gail Vacca, president of the Illinois Equine Humane Center, went to a low-end horse auction in northern Indiana on June 6, 2009, looking for any thoroughbreds being sold for slaughter - a violation of the Illinois racetracks' zero tolerance for such practices.

She wound up paying $300 for a mare who was so lame that Vacca thought that at best she could make the horse comfortable before euthanizing her. But with a lot of TLC and corrective shoeing, the mare's feet got better even as her belly grew bigger.

On April 15, 2010, the mare - nicknamed Lulu because her identity still was unknown - delivered a son. Through detective work and luck, the mare eventually was identified as Silver Option, and her foal was determined to be a son of major winner Magna Graduate.

The colt was named Magna Fortuna (Latin for great fortune), and the Illinois Equine Humane Center formed a 16-person partnership called Rescue Me Racing to raise the foal and try to get him to the races.

That day is coming soon at Chicago's Hawthorne Race Course. The Courier-Journal has launched a Magna Fortuna blog (http://blogs.courier-journal.com/magnafortuna) to chronicle the process of getting a 2-year-old to the races and the excitement and setbacks any horse faces in a career at the track. About half of his owners have volunteered to share their thoughts, with trainer Michele Boyce also contributing her observations and insights.

As with our recently concluded Hansen blog, the goal is to provide readers an inside view of the racing game.